Dedicated to the preservation of Long Island's 'gold coast' estates and other things old.

Friday, November 5, 2010

'Silvermore'

'Silvermore', the Edward Roesler estate designed by an unknown architect in Kings Point. Roesler was a partner at Laidlaw & Co., bankers. Click HERE to see the brochure from when 'Silvermore' was for sale.

38 comments:

I'm not so sure about the curved pediment over the front door, or the curved roof at the rear of the house- or, for that matter, the monolithic garage and Superintendent's apartment above. But I love the brick and limestone billiard room (blow up the photo in the brochure- have they left the cat's bowl out behind the potted palm to the right?). And of all things to include in your basement- the boilers and ...a barber shop! Zach: Keep those old brochures coming- I could spend all day going through them. A real window into a vanished world.

In the for sale brochure 2nd page lower left you can see a burnt-out shell of what I suspect was "Evermore" the Jesse Livermore estate. Can anyone confirm? Zach do you know date of brochure? Lengthly scandal ridden family history described in the Spinzia book. Robbery, murder, suicide and bad finical dealings! They state "unconfirmed" if house still survives???

Jesse Livermore was- and remains- one of the most famous speculators in history, making and losing several enormous fortunes in the years between 1900-1940. Clearly a manic depressive, he eventually shot himself in the cloakroom of the Sherry Netherland in New York. His second wife was a great beauty but a mentally unstable alcoholic. His short selling combined with their high living and generally off kilter behavior caused their more conservative neighbors to look at them askance, as they used to say. Livermore, in their eyes, was no gentleman. They were probably right.

Hey- HPHS- Google Jesse Livermore- go to Jesse Livermore.com. If they're correct, Silvermore WAS Evermore- there's a photo of it on the web,together with a description that says Evermore had a barbershop in the basement- just like Silvermore. Must be the same house.

And if the NYTimes is correct, the house was designed in 1925 by Mrs. Livermore herself, a former Zeigfeld showgirl, who "supervised every detail". The house and contents were sold at auction in June, 1933 to "satisfy her creditors".

Link to a totally different home attributed to Livermore. Different roof lines, placement of chimneys etc. Spinzia book has THAT photo for Evermore. Historic Map Works show the two separate properties - re: Livermoore/Roesler. Evermoore had landscaping by Olmsted which you would think would be featured in the brochure for Silvermoore - its not. The burnt-out hulk does match the footprint of the Georgian Revival house in the link above. Perhaps fire destroyed the first house and Livermoore took over Silvermmore?

Zach and HPHS- this is odd. Mystery clearly not solved. But it is perplexing that two contiguous estates with no common familial ownership should bear such similar names- Evermore and Silvermore. And both have basement barbershops. Now how many houses boast that? (according to one source, Jesse's boasted a full time barber). Zach- your the master- what's your call?

Wish I could get this link thing down- NY times reported on Aug 2, 1940 that developers had purchased the former Jesse Livermore estate with the intention of tearing it down and developing the property. The article stated that the estate was called "Silvermore" and that the entrance portico boasted two story columns. Really odd

A clue for me from the NYTimes article - "erected by Mr. Livermore" "Evermore" was CONVERTED from a 125-year old farmhouse into a brick structure with twenty-five rooms whereas "Silvermore" was "erected" from scratch???. This Google Book link gives even more confusing info. Plus An Aesthete's Lament posted back in Nov. of 2009 this - "Name of estate as Augustina confirmed by 1934 NYTimes wedding announcement of the Roeslers' daughter Rutherford Roesler to Elliott Conger Baker. The Roeslers had another daughter, Jessie Laidlaw Roesler. And the estate's name apparently was in honor of Edward Roesler's father, August Roesler." Magnus where's the link to the NYTimes article you mention from 1925 about Mrs. Livermore designing place? I was given some names of local historians from The Great Neck Library - I plan to call sometime next week.

There are only two of us Livermore's left.. my brother and I. JL III ( my father ) passed a few years ago. Unfortunately he followed in the family footsteps.

The mystery regarding the Evermore estate is of particular interest to me as well. My husband and I are planning on visiting the area in the next couple of months and plan to chat with local historians as well begin working with a real estate agent familiar with local history.

Based on our family records and photos it appears that "Silvermore" & "Evermore" are two separate properties.

That said, there are a number of unanswered questions.. I intend to obtain the answers!

Anything new from Tracy Livermore since Dec 2011? I just found this site and am fascinated. Just started googling Livermore because my grandmother worked for them as a maid in the 1920s. That's the only information I have so reading this site has been a revelation!

Always interested in new information about Jesse Livermore, definitely one of the greatest traders in the first half of the 20th century, I came around this interesting blog. Richard Smitten wrote a very good book about Livermore and also has a website reg. this topic: http://www.jesselivermore.com/

If you go the picture section, you will see that the backside of Silvermore is, in my view, identical to the picture on Smitten's website. Also, the location in Great Neck, Long Island, fits perfectly.

I would love to read more from Tracey Livermore and hope she will tune in soon again.

What a great website ! I can spend hours browsing trough its content of magnificent estates... and what a great surprise to me when I stumble upon The Great bear of wall street's mansion in great neck! It is of particular interest to me cause I've been a Livermore's fan and have a lot of respect to what this man was able to achieve in the Stock Market... About Tracey Livermore I've tried to find out something more about her but not very successful at all... I have a feeling of her being a phony,just someone elses joke... also her website seems to be abandoned. Talking about the estate in question it seems to be the one Smitten mentions on one of his books about Livermore... ClaraP do you have any interesting story told by your grandma about the Livermores ? Does she still alive ? Can You share anything with us ? Tks

Just came upon this site - looking for estate my husband's grandfather was a gardener on - His dad - before he passed at the age of 96 said his dad worked on the Roesler estate and they lived in a house on the estate. Trying to figure out where that was

The Roesler estate was comprised of about 100 acres and was bisected by Kings Point Road. About a third of the estate overlooked the sound and consisted of "the big house", another owner house called "the cottage" and a huge garage as well as a two family house for the groundskeeper and the chauffeur. The other two thirds spread out from Kings Point Rd.to wildwood Rd and was bounded by Redbrook Rd. I was born in the little farmhouse in 1930. My father was the gardener/farm manager until the gardens were abandoned and the stock sold in the mid 40's. The terms Evermore and silvermore are unfamiliar to me. I remember the date, 1888 over the front door of Augustina.

Hi, are you a descendent of Jessie Livermore, he was Married to my Aunt Nettie, his first wife. When they divorced, she bought a mansion in Palm Beach, which was in the family from 1920-61. I have a picture of a mansion they oen on Robin s Nest Lane, in Glen Cove.